2018 Awards

The 2018 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School was awarded to Nina Martin of ProPublica and Renee Montagne of NPR for their investigative reporting series Lost Mothers. The United States has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the developed world; NPR and ProPublica found at least half could be prevented with better care. The series tracked maternal deaths, saved lives by raising public awareness of post-birth complications, and prompted legislation in New Jersey and Texas. “The mothers of America deserve the best medical care before, during, and after childbirth. We not only owe them that dignity—it is a moral imperative,” said Shorenstein Center Director Nicco Mele. “The state of that care, uncovered by Nina Martin and Renee Montagne’s reporting, deserves close scrutiny. The Goldsmith judges had the challenge of choosing one winner from a number of compelling, important stories this year. ‘Lost Mothers’ is undoubtedly deserving of this special recognition. An underreported story with a devastatingly human angle, their report shines a light on a problem all around us, but rarely told with such power and grace.”

Additionally, the Shorenstein Center awarded the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism to Martha Raddatz, ABC News chief global affairs correspondent and co-anchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Ceremony Date

March 6, 2018

Note

The Goldsmith Prizes are funded by an annual gift from the Goldsmith Fund of the Greenfield Foundation.

2018 Award and Prize Winners

  • Winner, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    Lost Mothers

    Nina Martin and Renee Montagne, NPR and ProPublica

    The 2018 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School was awarded to Nina Martin of ProPublica and Renee Montagne of NPR for their investigative reporting series Lost Mothers.

    The United States has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the developed world; NPR and ProPublica found at least half could be prevented with better care.

    View the story

  • Winner, Goldsmith Career Award

    Martha Raddatz

Finalists for Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize

  • Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    Russia

    The Washington Post staff, The Washington Post

  • Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    The Addiction Trade

    David Armstrong and Evan Allen, STAT and The Boston Globe

  • Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    Fight Club: An Investigation into Florida Juvenile Justice

    Carol Marbin Miller, Audra D.S. Burch, Emily Michot, and the Miami Herald digital team, Miami Herald

  • Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    Broken Justice In Chicago

    Melissa Segura, BuzzFeed News

  • Finalist, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting

    Renter Hell

    Shannon Mullen and Payton Guion, Asbury Park Press

Judges

Nicco Mele, Director of the Shorenstein Center, chaired the meeting. Judges recused themselves from voting on entries from their employers. The 2018 Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize judges were:

Susan Crawford

John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Kristen Go

Director of Special Projects at the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Mike Greenfield

Trustee of the Greenfield Foundation

Ron Nixon

Homeland security correspondent for The New York Times and co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting

Jennifer Preston

Vice president for journalism, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Maralee Schwartz

Contributing editor at Columbia Journalism Review and former political editor, The Washington Post

The Hon. Mark L. Wolf

Senior United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts